08.11.13 Dia De Obon

::Before and After::
This week I'm bringing you a photo from our series "Dia De Obon".  It was inspired by Julia Kuzmenko McKim's Sugar Skull series.  You can see hers on her site.

In the Japanese tradition of Obon families gather at cemetery and prepare the graves.  During Obon season the dead can go home to visit their houses.  So families prepare the grave sites and clean them up for their families return.  During Obon they prepare an eggplant as a horse by putting sticks in it to represent four legs.  The dead person uses this eggplant horse to ride to the families house.  The family takes the eggplant home and then will later return it to the grave so that the dead can return to their resting place.
On the Mexican holiday "Dia De Los Muertos" families go to the grave yards and decorate tombstones with deceased family members' favorite foods and candies.  This is done in order to encourage them to return where they can spend time with family and hear prayers that will be taken back to heaven with them.
There are a few similarities with these holidays that we wanted to explore, so we decided to merge them for this art piece.

Let's take a look at the images.

Before

First thing I did on this image was smooth out the colors and add some accessories. I also modified the face shape on my model.

Modified face shape, and smoothed skin

My next step was dodging and burning.

With dodging and burning

My final step was to add some color variations.

Final Image

So that was everything.

Before and After

See the entire series at FANTiM.COM

02.16.13 Leaves

::Before And After::

This week's photo idea came to me one night as I was falling asleep.  I had an image slip into my head.  Dressed in a business suit, floating through the clouds, buildings rising from below.  It was a very peaceful dream, the kind of feeling you get right before you start dreaming.

I woke up and decided to create what I saw.  It's not exactly as I saw it in my dream because I would've needed to rent a hot air balloon to get the angle on the buildings that would've been needed.

I decided to include a before and after of this week's photo.

Completed Image

---

Main Building Used

Composed Buildings

Extended Buildings

Falling Man

For the falling man I modeled myself.  We used the umbrellas and windows to create the light coming from in front of me.  We also used the lights in my apartment to guarantee that my back wouldn't be too washed out.  We tried using a fan at first to create the shirt flapping, but it wasn't strong enough so we ended up using string and photoshopping it out later.

Finished Composition
Before Crop and Color Removal

Final Image

Zoomed In For Detail

So something interesting about working on this composition.  During the time of this photo Japan and Russia are feuding over a few islands in Norther Japan.  There was originally a sign on the building saying that once Japan reacquired these islands Japan would have peace.  We decided to replace this with a custom haiku Risa Takeuchi wrote just for this photo.

舞い落ちる

木の葉は行く先

告げぬまま

-梨紗

Roughly translating to: Fluttering leaves don't tell me where they're going.

Twisted Princess - Snow White

::Before After::

So this weeks twisted princess was Snow White. My idea for it was that once she bit into the poison apple you would see the effects of the poison, starting at the mouth.
My original concept was to have this shot in the studio with a white background.  But once I started editing the outdoor shot I ended up liking it better than the studio shot.
One thing that disappointed me was that I didn't have my reflector with me at the time of shooting the image. I've been packing and moving around alot lately so I had no idea where I had left it.  If I had it I could've used it to create a great catch light which would've helped out alot while darkening the eyes.
I'm so grateful to FilmReadyFace for providing the makeup, and Lace for making a special trip to Nashville just to shoot this shot for me.

Before

After

Non Twisted Version

For more from the Twisted Princess series visit http://www.fantim.com/twistedprincesses

To see larger sizes of the images and for purchasing information visit http://www.fantim.com/p824079416

Behind the Scenes:

Stacey setting up the makeup

Our little group

Hailey, Stacy, Lace, and Me

Next Princess: Cinderella

03.09.12 Emma Frost and Sleeping Beauty Videos

::Videos::
So this year I started up some video tutorials.  First one being from my Emma Frost and Cyclops photoshoot.

Emma Frost and Cyclops

The second was from the first in my Twisted Princess series.

Sleeping Beauty

The 2011 Christmas Giveaway

Ok so I've decided to give a run at the whole contest thing.  So here we go.  You can win one of three different things in this giveaway drawing.  And here they are:


-A gift card from Starbucks, because who doesn't like some coffee?


-An 8x10 print of your choice from one of my 52 Projects.


-A 30 minute photo shoot of your choice.  This can be headshots, portraits, whatever you need done, or you can just let me have my way with you and do some crazy cool Photoshop project staring you.


So you must be wondering "How can I win one of these amazing gifts!?"  Well it's very simple

1) simply click here to “like” FANTiM Fotography on Facebook or here to add FANTiM Fotography to your Google+ circle.

2) update your Facebook or Google+ status with: 

“I want to win FANTiM Fotgraphy's Christmas Giveaway! You can enter, too! fantim.blogspot.com” 

In order to get credit for the entry, be sure to mention (using the @ symbol) FANTiM Fotography and make sure it's a public post so that it links to my page and I can see it!

3) And I'll even give you a second entry in the giveaway if you leave a comment here telling me why you want to win.

You have until December 17th at 11:59PM CST, so make sure you get your entries in.   Good luck!


Note   For the 30 minute photo shoot to work you just have to live close enough to make it to my studio or be in one of the locations I'm visiting, otherwise we could try a Skype photoshoot? ;)

11.17.11 Decrep·It

::Before and After::

So on my way home from a wedding I shot last weekend I decided to take a detour.  I tried to go to the Davy Crockett museum in Tennessee, but ended up getting tired of the drive.  It gave me a good chance to scout though on the way and stop at places I wanted to on the way back.
This was one place I decided to stop at.  

Original Image

I got up and close and personal with this building; the shattered windows and wind blown sheets hanging over the windows made it more eerie than I wanted to face by myself.  As I approached he building I expected to see shadowy figures run past the holes in the plywood covering the door, or see the face of a witch in the window pointing at me and grinning.
I decided not to enter the building because I noticed alot of modern things around it and feared that either someone still lived there or that the owner came by frequently and would arrest me for trespassing.  After all the wheat farm in front of the building had been cut not too long ago.

So instead I ran into the field and took three photos so that I could start my image by making an HDR photo.

Same Image -1

Same Image +1

I put all three images together in Photomatix and came up with this HDR:

Rendered HDR image

It was not bad but still needed some work.  So I imported it into Photoshop.  I removed my car and the building behind it, along with the electric pole and wires.  I then adjusted the levels for the sky and trees, then adjusted the levels on the building, and lastly adjusted the levels on the grass.
Lately I've been driving around and staring at all the birds migrating.  For some reason I've been very fascinated by them this year.  I've been wanting to add them to a photo so I chose to add them to this photo.  Lastly I added some sun rays in the sky and put a gradient around the edges.  And I was finished.  Pretty easy photo to do, but I love the way it turned out.

Completed Image

11.08.11 Vampire Before|After

::Before And After::
So this week I've decided to add a before and after shoot from my Halloween Vampire shoot.
My first step in post processing was I made a copy of the raw image and increased the brightness.  I then put it into Photoshop and combined the lighter image with the darker image.
While adding makeup to the image we had decided to put a little drop on the top of her teeth to look like blood, but while I was working on this image I ended up removing that in order to make her teeth stand out more.  After basic touchups, and dodging and burning I took a white brush and created more light coming out of the lantern.  For a final touch I created a drop of blood and made it a similar color to the lips.
Some level and color adjustments later and you have the final image.

Before

After

10.31.2011 Halloween

::Photos Of The Season::
FANTiM.COM/52-11

So my plan this year was to take a different Halloween photo every week.  Unfortunately  there were complications with this plan.  So instead I did two weeks.  Still I think they turned out great.

Vampire Shoot

For my vampire shoot I put together a very creative team and the photo turned out perfectly.  The original didn't look much different then the end product.
Credits:
Lacy Garrison - Model
Stacy Lockhart - Makeup
Holly Stamey - Hair

For more photos from my vampire shoot you can view them at http://www.fantim.com/p680508153

Zombie Shoot

My other Halloween shoot was zombie themed.  This shot was inspired by "The Witch" from the left for dead series.  The red lighting on her dress was a mix of photoshop and a red glow stick.
Credits:
Lace Robbins - Model
Vapiai Caply - Makeup


For photos from the zombie shoot you can visit http://www.fantim.com/p512844628

Vampire: Behind the Scenes

Zombie: Behind the Scenes

10.01.11 Autumn

This last week I had a photo shoot with Autumn, so I've decided to include a before and after of the shoot.

And the final edit

8.3.11 Baby Photos

::blOg::

In tradition to my recent blog on baby photos I found another gem to share with everyone. I don't know who's luckier, the mom or the photographer who caught this shot. :P

7.1.11 Baby Photos

::blOg::

Whenever I am about to have a photo shoot I browse similar images to get some inspiration. I have a shoot coming up with a new born baby and her parents. This was actually supposed to be a pregnant shoot however the night of the photo shoot the baby was born.

Top 3 Classics
Anyways, here are the top 3 "classics" that I'm planning on staying away from.
3. Out of Control Family
What better way to capture your family than in their natural environment. Might as well take your kids to Walmart and have one lying on the ground throwing a temper tantrum over not getting the toy they want, while the other is walking back holding onto a Walmart employee cause they couldn't find you, and your baby cries uncontrollably while you look at pajama bottoms.

I'm not a big fan of this style because although it captures the natural energy of the family it leaves a sense of non-unity. The family aspect kind of goes out the door when you're loving your baby and let your other kids run rampant.

2. The Naked Family
There's something about a family that get naked with their baby that just doesn't appeal to my style of photography.

I think this style is supposed to be very raw, sweet, minimalistic, or something like that. But it tends to just look strange to me. Maybe it's cause I don't have kids and don't realize how fun it is to get naked with them.

But shouldn't there be a line not to cross here? For example...

So yeah this style just comes across as creepy to me.

1. Breast Feeding Mom
Can you imagine being an adult, going to your parents house with your significant other, and seeing this on the wall?

I have no problem with breast feeding. You're combining two great things, food and boobs. But is that something that needs to be captured? If my mom had kept pictures of me breast feeding lying around the house I think I would've been traumatized.

Some Good Ideas
Since I used these poor photographers pictures as references for what I don't want to do on my next shoot I thought I'd include a few shots of theirs that I do enjoy.

The Loving Embrase from "Naked dad squeezes naked baby too hard" photographer

I love the emotion in this photograph. The editing style too ads alot to that by bringing about detail in the subjects and the baby's eyes.

Smiling Baby is a Happy Baby from "naked African American family cuddles" photographer

Everyone loves pictures of smiling babies, and capturing that can at times be a challenge for a photographer. But the results are so good and you can't help smile when you see a baby smiling.

Hands Hands Everywhere from "naked families cuddle no matter how old your kid is" photographer

I have to admit this photographer had more maternity pictures that I liked than their baby pictures. But you can never go wrong with hands. They give a sense of just how tiny the child is. Including grandparents can also show a good contrast between the generations.

The Lomo Shot from "do what you want kids, this is only photo shoot is only costing me an arm and a leg" photographer

I love this shot. The natural nature of the shot, the low contrast, the backlight, the lens flare. And at the same time the subjects are doing what they do naturally. It's such a peaceful and great capture.

The Classic Movie Shot from "baby hungry!" photographer

Using brokeh along with creative cropping makes images like this very cool. There's not alot of posing in pictures like this, and that's a good thing because it allows the photographer to capture the natural characteristics of the subjects in the photograph.

Here are a couple other shots that I really liked too.

The Sleeper

A quick capture through the bars of the crib. If you think about it the only thing visible of the baby in this picture is the baby's head. Yet the environment captures something we're all used to seeing babies in and captures that artistically.

The Family Portrait
I thought I'd end with this one, just to get a smile out of you.

I actually love this shot. Yes the little girl looks like she's planning on eating your soul, but besides that it's very classy and entertaining.

::UPDATE::
A buddy of mine sent me this one.

03.12.10 Catwoman

FANTiM.COM/catwoman

---

So today's image that we'll be looking at is the image that inspired my Catwoman photo shoot. It all started out when I saw the cover of this particular Catwoman comic book.

This was the original art work, by Adam Hughes. A mugshot of Catwoman.


This is my remake of the image. Now for some behind the scenes so you can have an idea of the post processing.

I had my model dowse herself with water for this image in order to get that just got arrested in the rain look. I actually used several different images and composed them together in order to get every piece of her in place. After the shoot I went through and redarkened the running mascara. Cropped it in tight, and made the mugshot sign by drawing it together on Photoshop. Had to draw the mugshot sign because I didn't want to spend the money to buy one.
To see some more visit http://fantim.com/catwoman

Here are some behind the scene shots.

Due to a double booking error in my studio I had to move my studio upstairs to this dining hall. Although I didn't have as much lighting control it was free and I got the shots I wanted.


Catwoman getting ready to go rob some stuff. :D

That's all for now.

-F